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Filed under: Laptops

ASUS’s newest, Atom-based 900 series Eee PCs may be fast approaching availability, but it looks like the company is still doing its best to get as many plain old Celeron-based Eee PC 900s out the door as possible, with it now offering up a $100 rebate on the already low-priced laptop. That brings the price down to $449, which is certainly a decent enough bargain compared to the $599 the updated Eee PC 901 will supposedly be going for — Amazon price mix-ups notwithstanding. From the looks of it, both Amazon and ZaReason are offering in the rebate (good ’til July 31th) at the moment, but we’d expect the offer to start showing up at other retailers before too long as well.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

If you’re tired of waiting for ASUS to offer a touchscreen option for the Eee PC 900 (or you’re the proud owner of an existing unit), jkkmobile is happy to show you their shortcut to touchy-feely nirvana. As we’ve seen on all those other Eees, installing the touch panel into the 900 doesn’t seem to be extraordinarily difficult for those with a few mods under their belt and a reliable Chinese parts supplier. For those who’d prefer to simply watch from the sidelines, you can peek the video after the break and lots more photos in the read link.

Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 900 gets livened up with touchscreen

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

With the Atom-based mini laptop orgy that has become synonymous with 2008, it’s no surprise that Intel has had problems meeting demand for the new processor. That should end soon, however, says Sean Maloney, executive VP and GM of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group. Maloney points out that Intel now has four 300-millimeter manufacturing plants that he says will be doling out the silicon wafers en-masse by September. “We’ve got four 300-millimeter fabs, so we can really hose this stuff out,” he told PC World. With the expected popularity of the ASUS Eee PC 901, this news is coming just in time.

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Filed under: Laptops

Unlike the sticky situation in Hong Kong (which was in fact resolved), ASUS was under no obligation to provide 5800mAh batteries to buyers in the UK. Officially, the outfit noted that it “offers different solutions in different markets,” and although UKers have received 4400mAh batteries in their machines, they also get a lengthened two-year warranty. Nevertheless, the company is making the right moves once again by offering these very customers a couple of options; first, users can download a firmware update that will reportedly add around 30 minutes of life to their current cell. If that’s not enough, owners can send in the 4400mAh pack along with £10 + VAT in exchange for a longer-lasting 5800mAh edition. Looks like a pretty fair deal from this side of the pond.

[Thanks, JC]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Unlike the sticky situation in Hong Kong (which was in fact resolved), ASUS was under no obligation to provide 5800mAh batteries to buyers in the UK. Officially, the outfit noted that it “offers different solutions in different markets,” and although UKers have received 4400mAh batteries in their machines, they also get a lengthened two-year warranty. Nevertheless, the company is making the right moves once again by offering these very customers a couple of options; first, users can download a firmware update that will reportedly add around 30 minutes of life to their current cell. If that’s not enough, owners can send in the 4400mAh pack along with £10 + VAT in exchange for a longer-lasting 5800mAh edition. Looks like a pretty fair deal from this side of the pond.

[Thanks, JC]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

It’s only just barely made it out into the wild, but DigiTimes is now reporting that ASUS has already stopped taking orders from resellers for its 8.9-inch Eee PC 900 in anticipation of the now imminent launch of the Atom-based Eee PC 901. That word apparently comes from some unspecified “industry sources,” who also claim that the Eee PC 900 was only ever a “transitional product” to begin with, which ASUS pushed out the door with a plain old Celeron M processor in order to get an 8.9-inch model out ahead of its competitors. Certainly a reasonable conclusion to draw, but a quick glance of online retailers shows that there’s still plenty of Eee PC 900s out there for the taking if you’re not sold on this whole Atom thing.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

So according to El Reg, it turns out ASUS is selling its Eee 900 laptops in the UK with 4400mAh batteries — quite a bit smaller than the 5800mAh batteries that come in the US version. It’s insult to injury when you consider that the larger screen necessarily sucks down more juice than on the 700 series, but ASUS explains that overseas users get a tradeoff in exchange: UK warranties last two years, supposedly longer than their US counterparts (although to be fair, we’ve heard of retailers listing the US Eee’s warranty at two years as well). Caveat emptor, and all that.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Laptops

So it turns out the product page for the Eee PC 900 includes this unusual line: “8.9-inch screen does not affect the overall weight of the Eee PC 900, which remains below 1kg — allowing children and women to carry it with ease.” Hey now, even putting aside the fact that calling women weak went out of vogue decades ago, let’s also not harsh on the really muscular kids. For example, Richard Sandrak (above), the world’s strongest boy. That little dude could probably lift his weight in Eee PCs, so don’t mess, ASUS.

[Thanks, Lost Melodies]

Continue reading ASUS wants you to know that women and children are strong enough for an Eee PC

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Displays, Gaming

Rolling around jacking up innocents and tossing Molotov cocktails is pretty enthralling on your vanilla 46-inch HDTV, but can you even imagine the rush of swiping a hot dog, burning out in someone else’s whip and then snagging a new pair of kicks on this? Researchers (and gamers, obviously) down at UC San Diego have re-engineered their middleware to enable such masterpieces as this to be played on the big monolithic HIPerSpace screen, and needless to say, we can’t imagine much real work getting done with this new functionality coming to light. Head on down to the gallery to see what you’re missing — science, research and 4.0 GPAs are such beautiful things.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Though our pals over at Switched managed to snag some hands-on video with a red pre-production unit, we figured we’d grab hold of the classic black edition of the IdeaPad U110 and give you a closer look. Made available for order just this week, Lenovo’s latest ultraportable is high on style (and way high on gloss) and possesses the price tag to prove it. Meander on into the gallery below for a veritable plethora of unboxing and hands-on shots — and rest assured, impressions are on the way.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: HDTV, Portable Video

Get a load of what just arrived at the doorstep of our European HQ — the world’s smallest 1080i camcorder, Sony’s TG3E. Otherwise known as the TG1 in the US, this pup is small and sturdy and definitely looks the part of a Full HD (as it’s defined for camcorders) 1080i shooter. Hell, Sony somehow managed to turn that boxy design into something sexy to hold. However, Sanyo’s 720p Xacti DMX-HD700 (in red) still trumps the TG3E in size and weight. Unfortunately, it gives up significant lines of resolution in the process and uses inferior materials to boot. We’ll be back later with a full review of this pup as soon as we find a nice, tropical island which can pamper this beast in the luxury a $900 camcorder deserves. So until then, check the gallery and call out in the comments with any questions you’d like us to tackle.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Desktops

Engadget NYC might have gotten to play with Apple’s latest and greatest iMac yesterday, but we keep it dirty in the Chi — yep, we’ve got the first Psystar Open Computer shipped out for review. We’re just getting it set up, but check out the unboxing below, and hit us up with anything you want to know in comments — you know we’re going to put this thing through its paces.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Handhelds

One thing’s for sure about Digital Cube’s i-station UDIC: it’s not your mother’s electronic dictionary. Boasting a full (albeit tiny) QWERTY keyboard and a unique swivel screen, the HDD-packin’ device could easily be mistook for a miniature UMPC (a convertible one, at that). Just in case you’ve forgotten, it also features a 4.3-inch display, text-to-speech support and an Alchemy AU 1250 CPU. Pricing has been set for ₩398,000 ($396) / ₩448,000 ($446) in the Korean market for the 30GB / 60GB editions, and you can check out a video of some spicy hands-on action in the read link below.

[Via SlashGear]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_iMac_3_06GHz_unboxing_hands_on_and_benchmarking’; Look what arrived on our doorstep today! That’s right — the shiny, expensive new iMac that’s now equipped with that funky custom and / or overclocked 3.06GHz CPU. Take a look at us wildly unboxing and handling the behemoth in the gallery below, and get a load of its fairly impressive Xbench scores after the break.

Continue reading Apple iMac 3.06GHz unboxing, hands-on, and benchmarking

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We just got to spend a smidgen of quality time with Samsung’s new boringdaps: the S2 and S3. Gone are the pretensions of Bluetooth grandeur of the P2, these two players are about as straightforward as it gets. Samsung’s targeting the fashionistas in the crowd, and while the S3 might be a bit larger than they were hoping for in a 4GB player, the S2 “pebble” has kind of a fun feel to it — though some sort of clip-on apparatus would be appreciated.

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Original post by Paul Miller